The best scented flowers and foliage

I came home late to a damp road and an empty house. In the neon glow of the street lamp, I could smell the purple honesty, Lunaria annua, their heads popping over the front-garden wall. I could smell them before I opened the gate, subtle, sweet and strong in the cool air after the rain. The house might have been dark and the fridge half-empty, but these scented plants in my front garden said, “Welcome home.”

Lilac’s glory may be brief; the flowers last for only a few weeks but, oh, how fragrant and divine they are. There are numerous varieties of Syringa vulgaris, the common lilac, such as ‘Katherine Havemeyer’ with its lavender-blue flowers, or the elegant, white double ‘Madame Lemoine’. But as both will eventually grow to 7m tall, if allowed, they are not the best for very small spaces.

Not so the Korean lilac, S. meyeri, and its cultivars, which is tiny in comparison, at 1.5m tall and that again wide, with small, highly scented flowers. All syringa are deciduous, which is a bonus as they won’t gloom out your front room in winter.

The mock orange, Philadelphus species, are fast-growing, hardy shrubs with dark green leaves in summer and wonderful yellow autumn colour. These are minor details compared with their scented flowers, which appear in June and July, when their intoxicating perfume floats long on the breeze. A magnet for bees, they are known to be tolerant of urban pollution, salt-laden air and chalky soil as well as not minding a little shade. ‘Belle Étoile’ is an elegant single; ‘Manteau d’Hermine’ a blousy double.

Lavender and rosemary are both good choices for scented foliage. On a hot day, you can often smell both long before you arrive at their destination. The low-growing Rosmarinus officinalis Prostratus Group will happily sprawl over pathways and won’t mind a little errant treading to release its oils. ‘Miss Jessopp’s Upright’ is the opposite, staying very stiff, but lending vertical interest to a sunny spot.

Every bit of Russian sage, perovskia species, smells good, from the leaves to the flowers; it also manages to glow once in bloom, with its silver-grey leaves and tiny, violet-blue flowers. The taller varieties such as ‘Blue Spire’ tend to be quite floppy, but ‘Little Spire’ stays trim and is perfect for a path edge. It combines happily with any number of other later summer-flowering types, such as the softer pink of Phlox paniculata ‘Franz Schubert’, which has deeply honeyed notes to its scent and is much loved by both bees and butterflies.